Joystick Magazine 1996 April/cd3.iso/emul/xf33demo.txt

Text File | 1995-12-01 | 13.7 KB | 335 lines

PC Xformer 3.30 Demo - The Atari 8-bit Emulator For MS-DOS Compatible PCs
=========================================================================

December 1, 1995.

Branch Always Software
14150 N.E. 20th Street
Suite 302
Bellevue, WA  98007
U.S.A.

phone: [phone]
fax:   [phone]
email: [e-mail], [e-mail]
WWW:   http://www.halcyon.com/brasoft/


Program and documentation by Darek Mihocka.


This is a free demo!
--------------------

PC Xformer 3.3 is the latest version of my Atari 8-bit emulator. It replaces
PC Xformer 3.2 which was released this summer and is a major improvement
over PC Xformer 3.0 released last year.

This demo version of PC Xformer demonstrates many of the capabilities of the
new emulator. In fact, you'll find it to be a significant improvement over
PC Xformer 2.0, the freeware version of PC Xformer released last year. PC
Xformer 2.0 is almost 2 years old, so if you are still using it, chuck it!

Over the last several months I have been tracking down bugs in PC Xformer,
and thanks to the many users who reported those bugs and beta tested the
new version, I'm glad to say that PC Xformer 3.3 now runs many more Atari
8-bit games and demos than did earlier versions, and faster than ever.

PC Xformer 3.3 has been specifically optimized for use on 486 and Pentium
processors, making it absolutely the fastest 6502 emulator in the world.
On a 90 Mhz Pentium, PC Xformer 3.3 runs about 10 times faster than a 130XE.
Even on the slowest 486 it still runs faster than the real thing.

This is a demo version. You are free to copy it and give it to others. The
real PC Xformer 3.3 goes on sale at Atari 8-bit dealers in North America and
Europe later this week and includes a detailed printed manual as well as
lots of useful features such as joystick, modem, printer, and sound support.
The list price is $34.95 U.S. but dealers may sell for less.


Features of PC Xformer 3.3
--------------------------

PC Xformer is the only complete Atari 8-bit emulator (for any computer) written
in machine language. As such, it runs much faster and is more compatible than
the various other Atari 8-bit emulators.

Features of this demo include:

    - 48K Atari 400/800 emulation
    - 64K Atari 800XL emulation
    - displays all ANTIC text and graphics modes, including GTIA modes
    - 256 color GTIA color palette
    - player missile graphics with collision detection
    - horizontal and vertical fine scrolling
    - display list interrupts, IRQ, and NMI interrupts
    - reads and writes to ST Xformer and SIO2PC generated disk images
    - reads MS-DOS files directly
    - switch Atari BASIC on/off with one keystroke
    - switch between Atari 400/800 and Atari 800XL emulation with one keystroke
    - joystick emulation using the keyboard's cursor keys
    - full speed emulation on any 486 or Pentium
    - normal and turbo speeds of emulation

In addition, the real PC Xformer 3.3 available from your Atari dealer has
these additional features:

    - 130XE emulation with 256K of extended XE memory
    - built-in 6502 debugger
    - the ability to change disk images on-the fly
    - 4 voices of sound, printer, and modem support
    - joystick and Gravis gamepad support
    - command line options to disable BASIC and set emulation modes
    - lots of printed documentation and Atari reference documentation
    - free upgrade to PC Xformer 4.0 when it becomes available


How to buy PC Xformer 3.3
-------------------------

PC Xformer 3.3 can be ordered immediately from Branch Always Software
for $34.95 U.S. and that includes shipping anywhere in the world. Call
us at the phone number listed above or fax in your order. We accept VISA
and MasterCard orders over the phone and personal checks by mail.

Here in the U.S. you can also purchase PC Xformer 3.3 from Atari dealers such
as Toad Computers and Xanth. In England, contact Micro Discount. In Germany
contact the ABBUC user group.

Toad Computers
570-F Ritchie Highway
Severna Park, MD 21146
phone: [phone], fax: [phone]

Xanth Corporation
14100 N.E. 20th Street #105
Bellevue, WA 98007
phone: [phone]

Micro Discount
265 Chester Road, Streetly
West Midlands, England B74 3EA
phone: [phone]

ABBUC c/o Wolfgang Burger
Wieschenbeck 45
D-4352 Herten, Germany
phone: [phone]

ABBUC also has available a brand new CD-ROM that contains hundreds of megabytes
of free and shareware Atari 8-bit software. I highly recommend this CD as it
contains compilations of Atari 8-bit software from all over the world and
includes magazine disks. The CD can be purchased for $35 U.S. directly from:

Ernest R. Schreurs
Kempenlandstraat 8
5211 VN Den Bosch
The Netherlands


Upgrading to PC Xformer 3.3
---------------------------

If you are already a registered user of PC Xformer 3.0, 3.0a, 3.1, or 3.2
then you can download the PC Xformer 3.3 upgrade free of charge directly
from the private download area on our web page. If you do not have Internet
web access, you can order the upgrade by mail for $15 U.S. to cover our
shipping and materials costs.


Hardware requirements
---------------------

PC Xformer 3.3 (including this demo version) is a 32-bit MS-DOS program. It
can only run on 32-bit processors such as the 386, 486, and Pentium. It cannot
be used on 8-bit and 16-bit processors such as the 8088, 8086, and 286.

A VGA or SuperVGA card is also required since CGA and EGA cards cannot display
256 colors. The brand of VGA card is not important. Any VGA card will work.

You also need to be running MS-DOS or a DOS compatible operating system,
such as Windows 3.1, Windows 95, and OS/2 Warp.


Running this demo
-----------------

Unlike earlier demo versions of PC Xformer, this time around I am not
packing the ZIP file full of sample Atari 8-bit software. Why? Simple:
the Internet! There are numerous sites, including our own web page, where
you can download unlimited amounts of Atari 8-bit software. Or you can
purchase the CD-ROM. So to keep this demo lean, there are only 3 files:

    XF33DEMO.EXE - the PC Xformer 3.3 demo Atari 8-bit emulator
    XF33DEMO.TXT - this documentation file
    DEMOS.XFD    - disk image containing Atari DOS and some demo programs

To run PC Xformer, simply type XF33DEMO at your MS-DOS command prompt. You
will get an intro screen and at the bottom will be a list of special keyboard
keys you need to know about. Press any key and within a few seconds you'll
be running Atari BASIC.

The most important keys to know about are:

    Shift+F5  - this exits back to MS-DOS
    F7 F8 F9  - the START SELECT and OPTION keys
    F10       - System Reset
    Shift+F10 - Toggle Atari BASIC on/off
    Shift+F12 - switch between Atari 800 and Atari 800XL modes.
    End       - the Atari BREAK key
    `         - the Atari logo key (inverse key)
    Scrl Lock - toggle between normal speed and turbo speed
    Page Up and Page Down - move the screen up and down a pixel

Use the F10 key to "system reset". Press F10 while holding the Shift key to
toggle Atari Basic on or off. Remember, most machine language games prefer
to not have BASIC present.

In Atari 800XL mode you have access to the new graphics modes (GR.9 through
GR.15), plus you can run the newer software designed for the 800XL. Switch
back to Atari 400/800 mode to run older software, especially old games.

The Scroll Lock (or Scrl Lock) key is very important. It controls the speed
of the emulator. Normally the emulator boots up in normal speed mode. i.e. it
runs at about the speed of a 1.8 Mhz Atari computer. This gives maximum
compatibility with your Atari 8-bit software. For most Atari BASIC programs
and even some machine language programs, you can crank up the speed. You do
this by pressing the Scroll Lock key. When the Scroll Lock light goes out
you are now in turbo speed mode. The emulator will run as fast as possible.

For example, on the DEMOS.XFD disk image is a famous Atari demo called
swandemo.obj. This is a machine language demo so run it with BASIC disabled.
As the demo is running, press the Scrl Lock key every few seconds and you
should see a difference in the speed of the rotation of the Atari logo.

If you find that some games are simply too fast and unplayable in turbo
speed mode, press Scroll Lock again to switch back to normal speed mode.
Some games may not even function properly in turbo speed mode because
their timing gets too messed up and affects player missile graphics collision
detection. However, I've found that many programs still do run fine in turbo
speed mode so all I can say is... experiment!


Installing Disk Images
----------------------

PC Xformer 3.3 uses the same 90K, 130K, and 180K disk images used by my
older ST Xformer and PC Xformer 8-bit emulators, and it also supports reading
and writing of SIO2PC generated disk images.

If you specify virtual disk files and/or MS-DOS files after the XF33DEMO, those
will be installed as Atari disk drives. For example, type:

XF33DEMO DOS25.XFD

to install DOS 2.5 as D1:. You can specify up to 8 disk image files, which will
correspond to drive D1: through D8:.

You can also specify individial MS-DOS files on the command line. They will
magically appear to the emulator as disk images containing that file.

When specifying disk image and other file names on the command line, you can
use full path names. For example:

XF33DEMO C:\ATARI\DOS25.XFD D:\BASIC\RAINBOW.BAS

will load the DOS 2.5 disk image from the C:\ATARI directory and load a BASIC
file as drive D2: from the D:\BASIC directory. This way you do not need to
keep all your Atari 8-bit software in one directory.


Transfering Atari files to your PC
----------------------------------

Downloading files from the Internet or from a CD-ROM is fine, but you probably
want to copy your own Atari 8-bit disks to your PC. These are your options:

    - use the SIO2PC cable
    - use the Xformer cable
    - use a null modem cable or two modems
    - read it on a 5.25" disk drive
    - have someone else do it

Let's look at each option in detail.

The SIO2PC cable has been around for 5 years and is fairly well known in
the Atari 8-bit community. Contact your local Atari dealer, your user group,
download files #5281 and #6414 from the Atari 8-bit roundtable on GEnie, or
best yet, contact Nick Kennedy directly at 501-967-3843 or write to him at:

Nick Kennedy
300 South Vancouver St.
Russellville, AR  72801

I also tackled this problem back in 1988 when I was writing my ST Xformer
emulator. The goal there was to connect the Atari disk drive directly to
the Atari ST computer. Unlike SIO2PC, this method does not require the use
of an 8-bit computer, since the disk drive connects directly to the computer
running the emulator. The Xformer cable worked great and in 1988 and 1989 I
built and sold hundreds of the cables. Atari dealers also built and sold
many more cables.

As it turns out, these cables can also be used to connect the Atari disk
drives to your PC. The bad news is, neither I nor any Atari dealer has built or
sold a Xformer cable in years so you can't exactly buy one right now! I am
taking advance orders on the cables and will start producing them again in
early 1996. The cables will cost $25 and if you own PC Xformer you will also
receive a free upgrade disk that supports the cable. If you are interested
in purchasing a PC Xformer cable let me know now.

Another way to transfer files directly to your PC is to use one of several
utilities that attempts to read Atari 5.25" disks on your PC's 5.25" disk
drive (if you still have one). These utilities are not 100% reliable but
they do work for some people.

There is one other very common way to transfer a file between any two
computers, and that is to use a null modem cable or two modems. Run modem
software on both your Atari and your PC and transfer each file one by one
over to the PC. Then load it into PC Xformer by specifying it on the command
line as drive D2: through D7:.

PC Xformer allows for up to 8 files to be specified on the XF33DEMO command
line. The first file MUST be a virtual disk, since it must contain a valid
DOS on it to install as drive D1:. The remaining 7 files may either specify
other virtual disk files, or MS-DOS files which will automatically appear
as virtual disks as described above.

Note that by default DOS 2.5 will only access 2 disk drives (D1: and D2:).
See you DOS manual on how to expand that, or use a different DOS (such as
MyDOS 4.5) which supports up to 8 drives.

Finally, you can have your Atari disks transfered from Atari 8-bit 5.25"
floppy  disks to IBM PC 3.5" floppy disks for a small fee by contacting Rob
Satonica at:

    Creative Software Systems
    7775 Scottdale Rd.
    Berrien Springs, MI 49103

    phone: [phone]

Also available from Creative Software Systems is the Atari Emulator
Manager, an inexpensive MS-DOS utility which allows you to manage your
Atari 8-bit files, configure your PC Xformer settings, and run PC
Xformer, all by using your mouse to click on the various options and
files on the screen. Contact Rob for more details.


Don't be a stranger
-------------------

Well, enjoy this latest demo of PC Xformer. Please do visit the PC Xformer
web page at http://www.halcyon.com/brasoft/ and give me a shout to let me
know what you think of this emulator.

PC Xformer 95 (a.k.a. PC Xformer 4.0) is also in the works and is made
especially for Windows 95. As soon as it is released I will post the
announcement on the web page. As with PC Xformer 3.3, upgrades to version 4.0
will be free to owners of PC Xformer 3.x.

Darek Mihocka, Owner of Branch Always Software
Creator of ST Xformer, Quick ST, PC Xformer, and Gemulator